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Wetumpka Crater
The Wetumpka impact crater is the only confirmed impact crater in Alabama, United States. It is located east of downtown Wetumpka in Elmore County. The crater is in diameter, and its age is estimated to be about 85 million years (late Cretaceous), based on fossils found in the youngest disturbed deposits, which belong to the Mooreville Chalk Formation. The crater is well preserved, including the original impact rim and breccia, but exposures are few owing to plant and soil cover, and nearly all are on private land. The meteorite that caused the crater was estimated to be 1,100 feet in diameter and was likely to have impacted at a 30-45 degree angle from the Northeast, on a shallow sea that was about 300–400 feet deep. Thornton L. Neathery discovered the Wetumpka Crater in 1969–70 during regional geological mapping and published the first article on the subject in 1976. However, conclusive evidence of impact origin was lacking until 1998 when David T. King, Jr. and colleagu ...
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Wetumpka Impact Crater Historic Marker
Wetumpka () is a city in and the county seat of Elmore County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,220. In the early 21st century Elmore County became one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. The city is considered part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Area. Wetumpka identifies as "The City of Natural Beauty". Among the notable landmarks are the Wetumpka crater and the Jasmine Hill Gardens, with a full-sized replica of the Temple of Hera of Olympia, Greece. Historic downtown Wetumpka developed on both sides of the Coosa River. It was near Fort Toulouse, built by French colonists in 1717, when they had claimed this territory for the king. Wetumpka is currently best known for jailing two elderly women attempting to feed stray cats. Etymology The placename ''Wetumpka'' is derived from the Muscogee Creek Native American language phrase ''we-wau'' ''tum-cau'' meaning "rumbling waters", believed to be a description of the sound of the nearby ...
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Impact Crater
An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain. Lunar impact craters range from microscopic craters on lunar rocks returned by the Apollo Program and small, simple, bowl-shaped depressions in the lunar regolith to large, complex, multi-ringed impact basins. Meteor Crater is a well-known example of a small impact crater on Earth. Impact craters are the dominant geographic features on many solid Solar System objects including the Moon, Mercury, Callisto, Ganymede and most small moons and asteroids. On other planets and moons that experience more active surface geological processes, such as Earth, Venus, Europa, Io and Titan, visible impact craters are less common because they become eroded ...
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Alabama
(We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Alabama, Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Birmingham metropolitan area, Alabama, Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 , area_total_sq_mi = 52,419 , area_land_km2 = 131,426 , area_land_sq_mi = 50,744 , area_water_km2 = 4,338 , area_water_sq_mi = 1,675 , area_water_percent = 3.2 , area_rank = 30th , length_km = 531 , length_mi = 330 , width_km = 305 , width_mi = 190 , Latitude = 30°11' N to 35° N , Longitude = 84°53' W to 88°28' W , elevation_m = 150 , elevation_ft = 500 , elevation_max_m = 735.5 , elevation_max_ft = 2,413 , elevation_max_point = Mount Cheaha , elevation_min_m = 0 , elevation_min_ft = 0 , elevation_min_point = Gulf of Mexico , OfficialLang = English language, English , Languages = * English ...
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United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ...
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Wetumpka, Alabama
Wetumpka () is a city in and the county seat of Elmore County, Alabama, Elmore County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 7,220. In the early 21st century Elmore County became one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. The city is considered part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Area. Wetumpka identifies as "The City of Natural Beauty". Among the notable landmarks are the Wetumpka crater and the Jasmine Hill Gardens, with a full-sized replica of the Temple of Hera, Olympia, Temple of Hera of Olympia, Greece. Historic downtown Wetumpka developed on both sides of the Coosa River. It was near Fort Toulouse, built by French colonists in 1717, when they had claimed this territory for the king. Wetumpka is currently best known for jailing two elderly women attempting to feed stray cats. Etymology The placename ''Wetumpka'' is derived from the Muscogee Muscogee language, Creek Native American language phrase ''we-wau'' ''tu ...
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Elmore County, Alabama
Elmore County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 87,977. Its county seat is Wetumpka. Its name is in honor of General John A. Elmore. Elmore County is part of the Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Elmore County was established on February 15, 1866, from portions of Autauga, Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Montgomery counties. The French established Fort Toulouse at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa in 1717. Gen. Andrew Jackson then erected Fort Jackson in 1814 at the site of Fort Toulouse following the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. On July 2, 1901, a local mob lynched Robert (or perhaps Robin) White. In a strange turn of events, a local farmer, George White confessed in court to the killing and named five other local men as killers. Three men were convicted in the killing and sentenced to ten years in prison. On 9 June 1902, they were pardoned by Governor Jelks. In 1915 a ...
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Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin ''creta'', "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation ''Kreide''. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now- extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth b ...
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Mooreville Chalk Formation
The Mooreville Chalk is a geological formation in North America, within the U.S. states of Alabama and Mississippi, which were part of the subcontinent of Appalachia. The strata date back to the early Santonian to the early Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The chalk was formed by pelagic sediments deposited along the eastern edge of the Mississippi embayment. It is a unit of the Selma Group and consists of the upper Arcola Limestone Member and an unnamed lower member. Dinosaur, mosasaur, and primitive bird remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the Mooreville Chalk Formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, North America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 574-588. . Fish Cartilaginous fish Bony fish Reptiles Dinosaurs Indeterminate hadrosaurid, nodosaurid, dinosaur egg, and ornithomimosaur fossil ...
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Breccia
Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of different origins, as indicated by the named types including sedimentary breccia, tectonic breccia, igneous breccia, impact breccia, and hydrothermal breccia. A megabreccia is a breccia composed of very large rock fragments, sometimes kilometers across, which can be formed by landslides, impact events, or caldera collapse. Types Breccia is composed of coarse rock fragments held together by cement or a fine-grained matrix. Like conglomerate, breccia contains at least 30 percent of gravel-sized particles (particles over 2mm in size), but it is distinguished from conglomerate because the rock fragments have sharp edges that have not been worn down. These indicate that the gravel was deposited very close to its source area, since otherwise th ...
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Meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a Meteoroid#Fireball, fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "Bolide#Astronomy, bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater. Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transit the atmosphere and Impact event, impact the Earth are called meteorite falls. All others are known as meteorite finds. Meteorites have traditiona ...
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Thornton L
Thornton or ''variant'', may refer to: People *Thornton (surname), people with the surname ''Thornton'' *Justice Thornton (other), judges named "Thornton" *Thornton Wilder, American playwright Places Australia *Thornton, New South Wales * Thornton, Queensland, a locality in the Lockyer Valley Region * Thornton, South Australia, a former town * Thornton, Victoria Canada *Thornton, Ontario New Zealand * Thornton, Bay of Plenty, settlement in the Bay of Plenty * Thornton, Waikato, suburb of Hamilton * Thornton Bay, settlement on the Coromandel Peninsula South Africa *Thornton, Cape Town United Kingdom * Thornton, Angus, a location *Thornton, Buckinghamshire *Thornton, East Riding of Yorkshire *Thornton, Fife *Thornton, Lancashire * Thornton, Leicestershire *Thornton, Lincolnshire *Thornton, Merseyside * Thornton, Northumberland, a location *Thornton, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire *Thornton, Pembrokeshire *Thornton, West Yorkshire *Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire * ...
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Shocked Quartz
Shocked quartz is a form of quartz that has a microscopic structure that is different from normal quartz. Under intense pressure (but limited temperature), the crystalline structure of quartz is deformed along planes inside the crystal. These planes, which show up as lines under a microscope, are called planar deformation features (PDFs), or shock lamellae. Discovery Shocked quartz was discovered following underground nuclear weapons testing, which generated the intense pressures required to alter the quartz lattice. Eugene Shoemaker showed that shocked quartz is also found inside craters created by meteor impact, such as the Barringer Crater and Chicxulub crater. The presence of shocked quartz supports that such craters were formed by impact, because a volcanic eruption would not generate the required pressure. Lightning is now known to contribute to the surface record of shocked quartz grains, complicating identification of hypervelocity impact features. Formation Shocked q ...
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